Starfield’s biggest problem can’t be fixed by Shattered Space DLC

Starfield Launched to a mixed reception, garnering some critical acclaim while simultaneously receiving a thorough beating online from critics and players. The criticisms were many, though largely centered around the lack of traditional Bethesda design that fans have come to know and love from their plethora of award-winning titles. Thankfully, a series of updates have fixed some of the many issues plaguing the game at launch, and the Shattered Space DLC promises to further rectify even more of them.

however, It’s hard not to feel that Starfield Was something doomed from the beginning and that Shattered Space is too lateDespite the many promises it makes. There is one fundamental problem with StarfieldOne that was controversial even before the game launched, with developers jumping to its defense despite its overall absurdity. Shattered SpaceWith all its good intentions, can not fix the issue so inherently baked in Starfield game plan, and only a No man’s heaven-style series of updates could really fix it.

The location of Shattered Space does not fix Starfield’s randomly generated planets

Starfield’s exploration still remains unrewarding

Shattered Space brings Starfield Game design returns to the classic Bethesda formula By offering players one large open-world location to explore. Unlike the thousand randomly generated planets in the base game, Va’ruun is a handcrafted world with unique points of interest and optional content designed specifically for it, much like how Bethesda handled its DLC Fallout And Elder scrolls Series.

It is a positive change, and fortunately, not the only feature Shattered Space Is fixing, as it does away with the worst part of Starfield And gives fans what they’ve been wanting all along. However, that doesn’t fix the fundamental issues with the base game’s exploration, namely that it isn’t very fun.

Dashing around randomly generated planets can be exciting, especially when there are things to do and alien civilizations to meet, but Starfield Doesn’t offer any of that. Its planets aren’t particularly spectacular either, proving to be small, cut-off locations with little more than empty space peppered with the occasional crimson fleet base To fight through, unlike No man’s heavenWhich generates entire planets and allows players to land wherever they want, just one of many things NMS Does better than Starfield.

However, the biggest failing of Starfield Randomly generated planets, which Shattered Space Fixes, is its lack of life And its desolate spaces filled with copy-and-paste encounters that kill every immersion after the third encounter. Ironically, the more handcrafted locations Bethesda is best known for accommodating a greater sense of life and immersion, as developers are not only able to handcraft interactions and events for players to stumble upon, but also set strict rules by which emergent gameplay can arise. Shattered Space Can’t fix this, it will only serve to make it that much worse.

Shattered space with a single location is bad news for Starfield

It will only highlight the issues with the base game

There is a good chance that Shattered Space Will be more fondly remembered than the base gameIf only because it better fits into the Bethesda formula that fans love and that people will soon start to turn against Starfield. Its one explorable location will have more memorable handcrafted content that players will remember the same way they do about first encountering the College of Winterhold in Skyrim Or stumbling across Megaton in Fallout 3. Although this is undeniably amazing for fans of Starfield And those who wanted to get into it, there is bad news for the base game.

It will be incredibly difficult to return to the generic and repetitive randomly generated planets after exploring Va’ruun in Shattered SpaceAnd even harder to come back to the exploration model that Starfield Adopts. Hopping from planet to planet through endless loading screens will feel exhaustingly trivial when the DLC offers an experience with seamless exploration On a unique planet. The desire for a more traditional Bethesda experience will grow even more, and yet it will be impossible to offer without fundamentally changing the entire base game.

It is almost a mistake to make Shattered Space As Bethesda has, even if it is a significant step up from Starfield Original experience. It offers too much hope for what a Bethesda game in space should actually feel like, and the need to slog through the base game to properly appreciate the DLC will be frustrating as a result. Shattered Space Feels like it should be released as a standalone spin-off title That anyone disillusioned with StarfieldOr simply those longing for Bethesda’s original style of game design, could choose without being burdened by Starfield.

Starfield needs a No Man’s Ski-style makeover

It needs major updates to fix the boring systems

There is little chance that Bethesda will invest that much effort in updates Starfield As Hello Games has for No man’s heavenAnd yet it is exactly what it needs for it to maintain the same kind of love and attention over a decade or more Skyrim had fun first of all, Planets need a major overhaul to the number of potential biomes, thus diversifying the types of planets players can explore. Additionally, there needs to be more unique POI and encounter types that players can experience to keep each planet feeling fresh and provide a unique, memorable experience.

If Bethesda wants to commit to its thousand-planet structure, then so be it It needs to give a good reason to explore each planet and to make each one feel, in some way, a worthwhile experience. Players landing on a new planet in No man’s heaven Do this because of the potential of what they can discover, as much as it is to see what type of wonderful creatures and biomes they will encounter. The same incentive does not exist in StarfieldLike, aside from a handful of story-focused planets, the rest feel as lifeless and boring as everyone else.

Alas, it seems that even Star Wars Outlaws beat Bethesda at its own game, a truly heroic defeat considering the pedigree of its plethora of other games. Bethesda’s chances of overhauling the base systems of Starfield are incredibly unlikely, with his next move seemingly to be away from his failed experiment back to his original game design philosophy, best evidenced by Shattered Space.

That’s a shame, like Starfield Has the potential to be something great. However, at least players will have these Shattered Space DLC to remind them of what the potential could be.

Source: Starfield/YouTube